In Media | The American Task Force on Palestine

Who’s Pulling the Strings in the Middle East? Little Qatar, says Syria
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The New York Times - February 7, 2012 - 12:00am

LONDON — The Syrian regime is in no doubt about who sits at the center of a web of international conspiracy seeking to undermine it: the rulers of the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Like the regime of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and that of Muammar al-Qaddafi’s Libya before it, Syria has singled out Qatar as an éminence grise behind the unrest in its streets. In a dispatch on Tuesday, the Syrian State news agency SANA claimed to have discovered a document showing Qatar was funding writers in Russia to fabricate news about Syria.

Meshaal's cordial visit to Jordan helps open 'new page' in relations
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The National - January 30, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM // The leaders of Hamas have never been known for globetrotting or an appetite for diplomatic fanfare. They were confined to the Gaza Strip, unable to leave because of the Israeli blockade of the coastal enclave. Or, if they were among the clutch of senior Hamas officials based in Damascus, they maintained a low profile to avoid testing the patience and straining the hospitality of their Syrian hosts. Those days are gone.

Attempting to Answer the Arab Question
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The New York Times - January 27, 2012 - 12:00am

PARIS — Raised, if respectful voices at a private dinner party in Paris on Thursday. Among the guests — two Syrians, both anti-regime but with diametrically opposite analyses of what is going on in their home country. “We’re in the last quarter of an hour,” said the first guest, a very recent exile from Damascus, predicting the imminent demise of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Arabs Deserve a Party of the Citizen
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Huffington Post (Opinion) - January 19, 2012 - 12:00am

As the Arab uprisings enter their second year, a new political movement based on the concept and values of citizenship is needed. A lacuna now exists on the Arab political scene. The Arab uprisings shattered the old order but have yet to coalesce into a clear model for the future. A movement of citizens, expressed in organized political parties with clearly articulated programs, would tap into the patriotic and ecumenical grassroots protest movements and ensure that a historic opportunity for progress is not squandered.

Arabs deserve a party of the citizen
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Star (Opinion) - January 16, 2012 - 12:00am

As the Arab uprisings enter their second year, a new political movement based on the concept and values of citizenship is needed. A lacuna now exists on the Arab political scene. The Arab uprisings shattered the old order but have yet to coalesce into a clear model for the future. A movement of citizens, expressed in organized political parties with clearly articulated programs, would tap into the patriotic and ecumenical grassroots protest movements and ensure that a historic opportunity for progress is not squandered.

Gingrich: Palestinians 'invented,' promises Netanyahu-style foreign policy
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Politico - December 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich dismissed the Palestinian bid for statehood as the effort of an "invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community." Gingrich also said the Palestinian Authority, which has typically represented the moderate wing of Palestinian leadership and formally accepts Israel's right to exist, is motivated by "an enormous desire to destroy Israel."

Gingrich calls Palestinians an ‘invented’ people
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Washington Post - December 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said in a cable TV interview that Palestinians are an “invented” people with no apparent right to their own state, a rejection of a decade of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy. In the interview, which was taped Wednesday in Washington and will be broadcast Monday on The Jewish Channel, Gingrich spoke about his mistrust of Palestinian leaders, his admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his view that the Obama administration is “favoring the terrorists” with its foreign policy.

'Price Tag' Attacks Pose Test for Israel
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Jewish Daily Forward (Opinion) - November 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli society has been confronted recently by a troubling new trend: vigilante attacks by some settlers and their supporters against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Arab citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Israeli peace groups. These began as the settlers’ own form of retaliation — exacting a “price” for any Palestinian violence — but have devolved into a campaign of terror. Marauding bands of armed settlers have uprooted olive trees, burned mosques and schools, shot at cars, run over children.

Palestinians Rethink Statehood Bid
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Jewish Daily Forward - November 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Israelis warned of a “diplomatic tsunami,” Palestinians promised a game changer that would reshape Middle East peacemaking, and the White House and Congress geared up for an all-out battle inside and beyond the United Nations. But on November 11, the Palestinians’ initiative to gain statehood recognition from the U.N. Security Council ended finally not with a bang, but with a whimper.